Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim are a duo of directors and cinematographers based in Berlin and Madrid. Both honed their skills as cinematographers for feature films before uniting to co-direct. Their debut feature-length documentary, Luchadoras (2021), showcases feminist wrestlers in Mexico.
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Paola Calvo is a film director and cinematographer born in Venezuela. In Madrid, she studied media science at the Universidad Complutense. A year later, she began her studies in cinematography at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). Documentary filmmaking is the context in which Paola has found the most interesting visual and narrative forms for herself. She has received several awards for her work. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with Pepa San Martín, Katarina Schröter, Julius von Bismarck, and Moritz Frei, among others. Aiming to depict intimacy for the big screen, she directed Violently Happy, a 90-minute documentary shown in German cinemas from January to March 2017. In 2019, she co-founded the production company TUMULT with Patrick Jasim and Phillip Kaminiak. The film Luchadoras is her directorial debut alongside Patrick Jasim, as well as her debut as a producer.
Patrick Jasim is a German director and cinematographer. After several years of practical experience as a camera assistant, he studied cinematography at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). It was here that he began collaborating with musician and filmmaker Moritz Krämer (Die Höchste Eisenbahn), among others. Projects such as the Arte short film Eat, which screened at over 200 festivals, and the feature film Bubbe Stur, have won several awards and were shown worldwide at A-list festivals like the Berlinale and the Montreal World Film Festival. In addition to the mockumentary Operation Naked for ZDF television play, he also served as cinematographer for the feature film Night Out, set in Berlin’s nightlife, which celebrated its international festival premiere at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in November 2018. The documentary The Damned Man’s Speech, directed by Valesca Peters and produced by Cobalt Films, was distributed by Edition Salzgeber and was shown in cinemas in spring 2019. Luchadoras was his directorial and producing debut alongside Paola Calvo.